. >> f.i.f.a. looks to the future with a new leader after sepp blatter steps down. hello, you're watching al jazeera, i'm darren jordon in doha, also on the programme. iraq's prime minister asks for help from allies to beat i.s.i.l. president obama signed into law information limiting collection of private phone data. rescue teams in china - looking for hundreds of missing passengers after a cruise ship welcome to the programme,

media reports say sepp blatter is now under investigation into an f.i.f.a. corruption scandal. he stepped down on tuesday, days after defying critics to win re-election. neave barker has more. >> four days after his re-election as a powerful man in football. a shock announcement from f.i.f.a. sepp blatter says the organization needed profound organization. >> translation: although members of f.i.f.a. have re-elected me, as president the mandate doesn't seem to be supported by supporters, clubs, players, those that inspire f.i.f.a. this is why i'll call an extraordinary congress and dispose of my function. >> the extraordinary congress

to elect a new president is expected to take place between march and december last year. he spent years building a network of global support, especially in africa, where football received growing investment. but the recent scandal surrounding f.i.f.a. has prompted many to call for his resignation, including the head of englands football association who welcomed the news. >> it's a good day for football. we needed change for f.i.f.a., and this is the change they wanted. we are a bit smug and delighted. blatter's resignation comes in less than a week after two vice f.i.f.a. have been charged with fraud and racketeerring, part of a prosecution against 14 people. swiss authorities launched an investigation surrounding 2018

and 2022 world cup bids - won by russia and qatar. sepp blatter is not under investigation by swiss authorities, but under his watch the organization faces its biggest challenge yet. after 17 years at the helm of f.i.f.a., sepp blatter's resignation paves the way for a new era in international football. simon hill is a commentator at fox sports in australia and thinks it is a right direction for football. >> the governing body of the game has been under questioning for so long. i think it was right and proper that sepp blatter stood down as president. that's cutting off the head of the problem. we have to deal with the body. that's for the long interpret. in terms of 2018 and 2022 world cup. to revisit the votes is a little late in the case of russia in terms of qatar, there's time. in the middle east significant investment has gone into building the infrastructure and the stadiums to get the country

ready for the world cup. i am sure if was taken away or there was to be a revote there would be litigation brought to bear costing millions billions bankrupting the governing body that is a significant hurdle to overcome if they go to a revote. in terms of australia, they'd be interested in a revote but for my own personal perspective, that's a side issue. what we need is to get the football game back to some proper governance, and today it is a step in the right direction towards that rescuers in china are struggling with bad weather, searching for 400 people missing after a cruise ship sank in the yangtze river. most on board were elderly tourists. rescuers heard cries for help carrying 458 people when it capsized on monday. we have this report on a rescue operation. >> well behind me the yangtze

river, a powerful symbol in this part of china, and a focus of a friendsied and continuing rescue operation, but it is hampered by the weather. we had torrential rain during the past 24 hours, it has eased you have during the past few hours. not enough to make it easier for teams of divers working around the clock. those dive teams are looking at the possibility of drilling three holes into the upturned hull of the vessel to make it possible to enter the vessel that way. an option understand consideration is to right the vessel, float it. it's a challenging task. it continues to yield more dead than living, another body brought ashore this morning. china's premier has been visiting the rescue scene, addressing journalists saying that that this rescue operation will continue as long as needed.

china's president xi jinping receives regular updates, and later the families of the missing will arrive in the city where what is shaping up to be the country's worst maritime disaster in recent times continues to unfold. hundreds of migrants found drifting in a crowded boat off the coast of myanmar have been escorted by navy vessels, commanders in myanmar say they will not take action until the identities of 727 people are verified. they were found in a converted fishing boat in the andaman sea four days ago. >> let's get more from florence louie. bring us up to date on the latest on what the government plans to do with the migrants. . >> for the last few days we have researched from officials that the fishing boat crammed with 775 people will be brought to

rakind state. and we had confirmation that the boat will be brought to mondor in the north, close to bangladesh. they'll be given food, medicines, water, wherever they need. beyond that we don't know more. we know that mongdor is where the government is keeping another group of people about 200 found 10 days ago. the government said the 200 are from bangladesh but we don't know the identity of the 727 people found on friday. as far as we know no international aid agencies have had access to them. reporters trying to get near the boat were blocked by navy boats. they had to turn back and delete what was on memory regards. we stoke the government speaks men, he said the boat will be brought to a safe location and the people would be held there until they are later repatriated

back to bangladesh which seems to suggest a verification exercise has been completed. he later corrected the statement saying they'd conduct the verification exercise before they are sent to wherever they came from. there's a lack of transparency surrounding how the matter was handled, and suggests an eagerness by the government to portray the boat people. the ones in myanmar, as being economic migrants from bangladesh and it reflects the government's attitude towards the refugee and migrant crisis much the government refused to acknowledge that the treatment towards rohingya and ethnic minority is causing tens of thousands to get on the boats. the rohingya are virtually friendless and stateless, they have few rights they can't move around they are forcibly segregated and that's why so many are making the boat journeys to leave.

the myanmar government refuses to acknowledge that they are part of the refugee and migrant crisis and says it is a human trafficking problem, and many of these people on the boats are economic migrants from bangladesh. iraq's prime minister is pleading for happy to fight islamic state of iraq and levant. haider al-abadi says his country needs the international support of the world to defeat i.s.i.l. but is not getting it. we have a report from paris where there was a meeting with allies. >> reporter: in iraq, the bullets and bombs continue. fighting so severe it looks nowhere near over. the hot desert landscape, a tangled web of militaries and militias, all trying to stop the advance of i.s.i.l. in paris, a stark juxtaposition. in this ornate setting diplomats desperate to find a solution for iraq in its battle against

i.s.i.l., or as the group is called in arabic, d.a.e.s.h. >> translation: the international community, the international coalition, has to support us, has to support us to destroy d.a.e.s.h. >> reporter: iraq's foreign minister called d.a.e.s.h.'s shocking claims a failure on the part of the world. by the end of day, common ground had been found. >> translation: the exchanges that we had today allowed us to reaffirm our unity and our common determination to combat d.a.e.s.h. terrorists. >> the handshakes and hopefulness meant to show how resolute the coalition remains. >> this will be, as we said, a long campaign. but we will succeed if we remain united, determined and focussed, and we are.

an anbar action plan promising to streamline delivery of weapons to the province and bank -- banquish i.s.i.l. for good. not as heavily discussed, but syria on the agenda. participants calling for a transition in syria, saying if i.s.i.l. takes over more territory, it will be more dangerous for iraq and a region as a whole. a region confronted by a new kind of turmoil and the threat the likes of which was never seen before yemen's government in exile is prepared to attend a meeting in geneva. the talks have been postponed once, but no new date set. james bays has more from u.n. headquarters. >> taking place in a matter of hours, a u.n. security council meeting to discuss the situation in yemen. ahead of that meeting the government of yemen made an important announcement.

a spokesman for abd-rabbu mansour hadi told al jazeera that the government is prepared to go and have a meeting about the situation in geneva. there were supposed to be geneva peace talks last week. they had to be postponed. the government is saying if it attends a meeting there'll be consultations about the situation, not negotiations baut they say they'll only take part in negotiations with the houthis, if the houthis comply with existing u.n. security council resolution and withdraw from all the areas that they have captured. i can tell you separately talks have taken place in recent days that took place in muscat in oman. there a number of nations were represented. we know that the u.s. sent a senior official. we know the houthis were there. so a fresh effort from all parties to try to get the talks under way again. the u.n. would like the peace talks back under way. the u.n. making it clear that it

would like a pause in the fighting in yemen. >> more to come on al jazeera. south korea steps up efforts to contain an outbreak of m.e.r.s. live from seoul with the latest. a report from a canadian commission who says treatment by indigenous children in boarding schools amounted to cultural genocide. more on that. on that.

welcome back a reminder of the top stories - sepp blatter

is under investigation in the fiesta f.i.f.a. scandal rescuers search for 400 people missing after a cruise ship sank in the yangtze river. most on board were elderly tour its. iraq's prime minister pleaded for more help to fight i.s.i.l. as he met with world leaders in paris. haider al-abadi said his country is not getting the the support it needs u.s. president obama signed legislation to collect phone records of americans. the freedom act was signed. it overhauls surveillance laws.

>> the u.s. government will have to to actions information, which it could do automatically, it needs a court ford from the pfizer court. there's many not celebrating the resumption in surveillance the a.c.l.u. saying the most intrusive tools are intact. still, i can't tell you what it shows is a shift in american attitudes, the fact that there was a debate was significant. for so many years, the provisions that expired were rubber-stamped. now, that was not the case. they lapsed for more than a day and a half. it showed a shift in the attitudes. where after september 11th attacks, americans were willing to trade privacy for what they perceived to be increased security, it's no longer the

case, with the younder americans they were less trusting of the government and willing to change the authorities. edward snowden, a former caction for the national security agency told an audience that mass collection of communications doesn't work. >> in terms of intelligence gathering or surveillance you know watching our adversaries, you have to remember the fact that we have a proven history now that the programs are not effective in the united states. we are a little ahead of the game. we have had the mona barthel bombings -- mona barthel bombings -- boston marathon where the defendants were identified and known. despite the fact they were watching they didn't thwart the attack. the question is why. the answer is when you have individuals like me, responsible, going to a desk and searching through the world's communications from the previous day, week month, you realise quickly that though we collect

everything we understand nothing president obama criticized the israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu on israeli tv. saying his position on statehood endangers israel's credibility. patty culhane has more. >> blupt criticism from the -- blunt criticism from the president talking to an israeli president. talking about binyamin netanyahu, predisposed to look at security first and perhaps sees piece as naive and sees the worst possibilities as the best in his partners. the talk, in the run up to election if he was reelected, that there would be no two state solution. >> subsequently his statement have suggested there's the possibility of a palestinian state, but it has so many caveats, so many conditions that

it is not realistic to think that those conditions would be met any time in the future. the danger is that israel as a whole losses credibility. the international community does not believe that israel is willing for the 2-state solution. the statement compounded with belief that there's not a commitment next. >> reporter: what is next, the u.s. president reevaluating the position at the meetings. that would recognise the palestinian people or set a framework for the negotiations. he said he didn't think it was time to come up with a frameworking agreement. he wanted to see confidence building measures inhe reegeo he didn't say what they were but thoughts illegal seltlement and the inability of

people in the west bank is a problem. the world health organisation is saying that an m.e.r.s. outbreak is likely to grow. doctors have diagnosed five more cases, bringing it to 30. what is middle east respiratory csyndrome. >> it's an illness emerging in saudi arabia in 2012. it causes fuel-like symptoms, fever, coughing and shortness of breath. leading to pneumonia and kidney failure. 3-4 out of 10 that contract m.e.r.s. die from the virus. harry fawcett joins us live. tell us the latest about the m.e.r.s. cases. >> reporter: well, as you say, five new cases diagnosed on wednesday, the total is 30, including a man who travelled to china and is now in china

understand quarantine there. of five case, one is a tertiary case, that individual was not infected by the first case, the man that came back, but infected by a person that he infected. there's three such tertiary cases, and that is the number that the authorities are because if it event utes that several cases where the virus is passing through more than one transition, it's more positive to control. that is why we see an expansion of numbers quarantined. 1,311 people are in quarantine most at home. over 100 are in hospital accommodation, monitored by medical professionals. the government is not saying which hosts are used for that purpose. that is something that, of course on within hand is designed to prevent unnecessary concern, but is proving fertile grand for rumour there's all sorts of rumours son social networks as to which hops may be

sprovt. people telling relatives not to go there. parents asking schools nearby to be shot done. 209 schools have been closed in south korea, most in a province around the capital, seoul. >> many people are asking the question how well prepared is south korea for a wider outbreak of m.e.r.s. >> well i mean it is an advanced country and has a very capable medical system but it seems that mistakes were made especially in the originally days. the president park geun-hye is holding an emergency meeting and has apologised for - or noted that mistakes were made. what happened is the man came back from the middle east developed symptoms went to four hospitals before being diagnosed, eight or nine days after the symptoms became

apparent. during that period he appears to have infected a great deal of people. that's a key question how and why so many are affected by the one man. does it represent failures of the medical treatments that he was given, and the kinds of restrictions or does it represent a change in the virus from what we have seen elsewhere. that is something that will be investigated here. >> thank you a 12 hour curfew is in place in the nigeria city of maiduguri, it's after a bomb exploded killing 50 people there has been no claim of responsibility. now, a report into canada's former policy of separating indigenous children from their families branded the actions cultural genocide. thousands of children send to residential schools to be asame lated into mainstream society. alan fisher report the victims

carry scars. >> they waited years to have their pain acknowledged. >> today i stand before you that what happened was cultural genocide. it was nothing less than to ex-extinguish the spirit of aboriginal people's. as survivors showed us they have survived. >> for the indigenous people of canada, the first nations knew that this was a moment for tears and cheers. for more than 100 years generations have been forced to school. they faced physical sexual and emotional abuse, all in an effort said the government. to civilize the indian. >> this has been a difficult,

inspiring and painful journey for all of us. the residential school experience is one of the darkest troubling chapters in our collective history. >> annie johnson spent 10 years in a school in british columbia. she left at the age of 15. 50 years on she carries emotional scars. >> the messages that they gave us, that we were heathens, pagans my way of life was no good. i'm 65 now, 60 years passed and i'm still deal with some of that. >> reporter: so much is known because of a court case five years ago was the start of the part of the settlement was a truth and reconciliation commission. they have gathered the country, ment. andling to survivors.

everyone is lined up for a copy of the report. the head of the assembly of first nation says it will mean nothing unless also action. >> the operative word is implementation and action. there's no sence having a report with recommendations and calls to action unless the government takes it seriously. it's thought more than 6,000 children died in the schools. record keeping was poor. the guilty could hide their secret. for many, they hope the report is not the end, but the beginning for them, their people and canada . >> it's billed as the new silk road. an economic zone on the china kazakhstan border. so far business is brisk. beijing allowed tourist and shoppers to across the boarder without a visa and buy duty free goods. chinese peep on the other side are not so happy. >> reporter: this is still

frontier territory between kazakhstan and china. it's not the wild west. this is a free trade zone where barriers between chinese and central asians are breaking down. we used to fear the chinese - now it's the opposite. in kazakhstan people were less trusts worthy. you come here and they'll work with any issue they may have. all you can hear is the sound of tape rapped around boxes and bags full of everything from bicycles and car tyres, clothe and building materials. this is a traders paradise the new silk road. >> china has built malls and hotels for tourists to enjoy guilty free shopping. on the kazakh side chinese

tourists can only by novelties. kazakhstan has little consumer goods and has spent less on development. >> experts believe official statistics complete the picture. >> if you compare the official trade turn over figures of china and kazakhstan there's a difference of five or 6 billion. the chinese are counting everything, and we are not counting part of trade. they are calling it unaccounted for trade. it's not unaccounted for, it's corruption. compared to plans, the free trade zone is a drop in the ocean. near hundreds of thousands of railway cars transit from china to europe through the try port. this is where the relentless expansion into kazakhstan and to russian and european markets

begins there's no looking back. >> and a quick reminder you can keep up to date with all the news on the website there it is on the creep, the increase aljazeera.com. that's that's aljazeera.com. aljazeera.com. david shuster in for ali velshi, "on target", web of fear, what you can get away with online that would never buy in the real world. paying for patriotism, how the government pumped big bucks into something you'd thing the national football league would do for free free speech versus violent intent. i'm not goin